The Lost Seraph
by Arcaile63
Summary: As Fayt and Cliff try to find a way off of Elicoor II, they become involved with the planet's locals such as Nel, Clair, and Ira. A rewrite of Black Lance This was called Project Zero, but I scratched that title. OCness!
1. Prologue: Strange Happenings

**_disclaimer: I own nothing..._ **

**Prologue**

"Another boring, pointless day..."

A young girl sighed as she stared blankly out of her window. The dark night sky of Federation Station #17 was a serene and peaceful sight. But to the little girl it was just something that she had been seeing for nearly 9 years every night, and therefore she didn't think much of it. She was leaning against the window sill with her head propped on one hand, while mindlessly playing around with her long blue hair with the other, looking more or less bored to death. The silence was broken by a woman's voice calling out from downstairs.

"Maria, dinner's ready!"

"Yes, mom!" Maria answered back.

9 year old Maria Traydor was a resident of Federation Station #17 . Her parents, Richard and Jessie Traydor, who were a Federation officer and a research scientist respectively, were almost always busy with work. This meant that little Maria was stuck in the house by herself most of the time. This, combined with the rather routine life on the Station, tended to drive her crazy, since there was really nothing to do. After all, it WAS a military base, so it wasn't like living in a city or anything. The dullness left her seriously wishing that she at least had a sibling or something.

Maria, deciding that she had better get downstairs before her mother repeats herself, slowly started to straighten up. It was rare for her mother to come home this early, so the little girl also wanted to make most of it. All of a sudden, there was a deafening noise in the air as if someone blew up a bomb inside her house, accompanied by several pillars of lightning. Taken off guard by this sudden phenomenon, poor Maria fell backwards and stared open-mouthed as more lightning came crashing down from the once peaceful night sky. But this was most unnatural. She was currently on one of the Federation Stations, which were man-made, and therefore lacked natural phenomenons such as lightnings, rain, storms, and weather in general. Moreover, the streaks of lightning seemed to be appearing out of thin air instead of from a cloud like it normally should.

Soon, everyone was looking at the relentless lightning with either awe or fear, until there was one final, huge pillar of light that came crashing down. The bright light forced Maria to shield her eyes with her arms, and even then it took her a while to see properly again. At the exact spot where the last burst of light hit was a sizable crater. Fortunately, the Station was still functioning properly with no problem at all, so the damage wasn't very serious. It did, however, attract quite a bit of attention, including that of the little blue-head. The moment she came to her senses, Maria raced out of her room and towards the remains of the mysterious thunderstorm.

Numerous people had already gathered around the gaping hole, all whispering and pointing at something in the center. Upon closer inspection, Maria saw that it was big slab of rock, a little larger than her father. A moment later, her parents came rushing in with members of the Station's research lab, and told Maria to go back inside before examining the strange object. Her curiosity being stronger than her obedience, Maria just watched as the research team worked on extracting the large stone and transferred it to their small lab on the Station, where they would examine it further.

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Four days have passed since the arrival of the "rock". By now, the people had begun discussing amongst themselves as to what the strange lump of rock was. A meteorite perhaps? Maybe it was something that got mixed in during the construction of the Station, and was unearthed by the force of the lightning? Some people thought it was something significant, while others dismissed it as nothing more than a piece of space rubble. In any case, Maria was spared from her boredom during this time, as she spent a good deal of time and effort trying to figure out what the object was. Her mother had been studying the rock without rest, but all she and her fellow researchers found out was that it wasn't composed of any material that was known so far. On top of that, whatever it was made up of rejected any form of probe, whether it be a simple x-ray or some kind of radiation, so the interior couldn't be studied either.

One day while Maria was studying in her room, she heard her mother come inside the house. Most unusual, since she should be at the lab right now with all the commotion with the "rock". Maybe they finally solved its mysteries! Maria ran down the stairs in excitement and found her mother looking for something on her work table.

"Mom?" Jessie turned around to see her daughter looking up at her.

"Oh, hi sweetie, I forgot to bring an important data disk, so I had to come back." She looked a bit embarrassed at having made such a simple mistake. Maria's excitement died down as she realized that the "rock" was still a mystery.

Jessie, having finally found the disk in question, told Maria that she will probably staying late at work again, and so will her father, and apologized for their absence and left in a hurry.

"Now be a good girl while I'm gone".

"Ok." Maria replied as her mother headed off to the lab.

Back at the lab, the mysterious rock was situated in the middle of the observation room. While everyone was busy analyzing some data or another, Jessie was taking her time thoroughly examining the object in question. At a glance, there was nothing remarkable about it. It was just a plain, big old rock. After circling it about 3 times, Jessie noticed something peculiar. There was a faint mark at one section of the rock that somewhat resembled a circle with a slash through it (like the "none" sign in math). Mentally scolding herself for not having noticed such a thing until now, she carefully traced the marking with her finger.

She certainly did not expect it glow afterwards. A faint golden light glowed from the marking, before a small crack appeared around it. Jessie began panicking as the crack continued to spread wider and wider. Soon the entire staff noticed the glow and the crack as well, and the researchers all gathered around the rock, not knowing what to do. The crack spread further and further throughout the rock, with the eerie gold light flowing out of it.

At last, the rock shattered, or rather, exploded, into pieces. The scattered chunks of stone struck several of the researchers present at the area, knocking out many of those unfortunate enough to be hit by one. However, people were too busy staring at the golden light in the center where the rock had been just a few seconds ago to make any move. Richard and Jessie, the only ones who didn't end up as targets of the rubble, had to cover their eyes, as the light was just as strong as the one four days ago. When the light dissipated at last, no one (at least those who were still conscious) could suppress a gasp of surprise.

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Maria was reading a book by herself when there was a loud, impatient knock at her door. It was strange, since the only reason people came to her house was when they had some business with her parents, usually her mother. And Jessie did say that she and Richard would be coming late tonight, and it was still fairly early.

The blue haired girl cautiously approached the door and asked, "who is it?" tentatively.

"Maria dear, it's us, could you open the door quickly!" Maria was somewhat nervous since her father's voice sounded like he was in a hurry.

When she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was what her father was carrying, or rather, WHO he was carrying.

A young man who looked to be in his mid-teens was being supported by Richard and Jessie, who had each of his arms around their shoulder. His long hair was red as blood, and his half-opened eyes were golden. He was dressed in what seemed to be a priest's garment of sorts, a simple, plain shirt, loose pants, and a robe on top with intricating golden patterns and symbols all over it. All of his clothing was completely black. They were quite tattered too, with rips and tears all over it. It was something of a wonder that it was still holding together, since it looked like it would fall apart at the slightest movement. The boy himself seemed to be in a pretty bad shape, his face completely pale and blood steadily collecting where he stood.

"Jessie, quick, bring some bandages to the guest room!" Richard instructed as he took the severely injured boy to the one room in the entire house that hasn't been used in over 5 years.

"Maria darling, I want you to stay put while we take care of this young man's injuries, okay?"

The little girl nodded as her mother quickly ran off to get some medical equipments.

As she was about to go back to her room, Maria noticed something glinting on the floor. It appeared to be a gold locket, with a very plain, oval design. There was, however, one glaring detail. There was a peculiar circle with a slash through its center embedded into the cover, along with one small word.

"Zero".

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**_Well, that's the prologue. This is actually an attempt at redoing the whole star ocean fic I started almost a year ago, then gave up due to lack of ideas. Anyway, if you've read my first fic "The Black Lance", please be kind enough to suggest whether I stick with the "Shuyin fic" or proceed with this new "Zero fic". I'll upload the next chapter for further comparisons. Remember to R&R! Thank you! _**


	2. Disrupted

_Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean, nor do I own the Gunblade (I sure wish that I did)._

** Chapter 1: Disrupted**

"Too slow, too slow", a young man with a long red ponytail commented to a certain blue-haired young girl.

"You're making too many unnecessary movements, Maria, try to keep it to the minimum."

"Huff, huff, got it, cough Zero." Maria was gasping for breath on all fours, two small training pistols lay discarded next to her. The large open arena where the two youths were training was littered all over the place with holographic target systems, both moving and stationary.

It has been three years since Zero started living with the Traydors. Maria's parents had brought him in shortly after the "rock thing" was reported to have been destroyed. She was baffled at first, especially about the fact that he wasn't capable of speaking a word in any language at all despite his age. Actually, his age of 17 was only a guess, since there was no way to figure out his actual age, even Zero didn't know anything about himself. However, he proved to be capable of learning things at an alarmingly fast rate, as shown when he mastered the standard Terran language in less than 3 months. However, he showed no interest in joining the research team on Federation Station #17, and Jessie didn't push the matter, although he would have been quite helpful due to his extreme intellect.

Needless to say, life has been considerably less dull for Maria, now 12 years old, since Zero came. For one thing, she now had someone to talk with at home. But the chief reason for the lack of boredom was Zero's hobby. He devoted most of his time to training. At first, he tried out a pistol upon seeing some of the new recruits of the Station in the middle of their drills. Then he stumbled across the sword while studying history, and became interested in the ancient weaponry. The end result was the combination of the two, since he couldn't decide on one or the other. After weeks of experimenting, he succeeded in fusing a sword and a gun together into what became known amongst the people on the Station as the gunblade _(A/N: Yay! Final Fantasy VIII! Seriously, those things are AWESOME!)_, which was basically a medium-length broadsword with a phase-gun with a stun-setting built into it. The handle was shaped and positioned to make the weapon look like a gun. He practiced with two of the complicated weapons, which he named the "Falcon (Left-hand)" and the "Hawk (Right-hand)".

Maria stumbled across his training about a year ago, and attempted to imitate her "older brother", as she came to refer to him. Unfortunately, the sword part of the gunblade made the weapon a bit too heavy for the young girl, so she had to give up on that idea. Instead, Zero suggested that she try out regular pistols. After about 7 months, the little child proved to be on par with most average soldiers in terms of her marksmanship, perhaps even better, much to the surprise of her parents and Zero himself. Although Maria's parents didn't really like the idea of her practicing with firearms, even though Richard was _somewhat_ proud of his daughter, they knew better than to expect her to quit something once she got drawn into it. And this was **definitely** one of those things.

Maria's recent training program involved realistic battle simulation. While Maria herself, and Zero to a certain extent, believed that she was capable of handling simulations where there the person is bombarded with stun guns, her mother wouldn't hear of it, so that had to be scrapped. So, they had to settle with non-resistance training simulation, where the person has to weave in and out the "battlefield" and take out all the targets resembling enemy soldiers as quick as possible. While she did exceedingly well, Zero always found something that she was lacking, whether it be accuracy, speed, or as in this case, efficiency.

"You have a tendency to force the targets to spread out, then take them out one by one. That _is_ a good strategy, but when you are outnumbered, it may be a little risky. Once they decide to rush you, you'll be overwhelmed." Maria hung onto every word coming from the redhead.

After his short lecture, Zero engaged in his own training, considerably more intense than Maria's, as it involved the stun guns mentioned earlier. While they don't kill you, it stung like hell and left you feeling like crap for the next 2 hours even if you use medication to heal yourself. On top of that, Zero's unique weapon made his fighting style a quite different from that of typical soldiers. He usually concealed himself until a pack of targets came by, then he would dash into the center and begin cutting/shooting down anything in sight. This came across as reckless in most people's view at first, but that was before they found out that his reflexes and physical abilities were almost equivalent to that of a Klausian. However it was proven that he wasn't a Klausian, since he did not have the ring-tattoo thing on his neck. Instead, he had a faint scar that looked like the number zero on his forehead, which he covered up with a black bandana. Once, Maria pulled a little prank on him by drawing a little eye using the scar, so he ended up looking like he had 3 eyes. But instead of laughing at him, the people on the Station got completely freaked out at his appearance. His golden eyes alone were enough to make a person feel unnerved. In fact, Maria was the only one so far who could look at him in the eye without flinching. As if to reciprocate this, Maria was the only one who Zero spoke to casually. To everyone else, he sounded a bit too stiff and distant.

"Alright, that's enough for today," Zero said as he slashed the last hologram target in half.

"Huh? Why? Isn't it a bit too early?"

Zero sighed as he explained, "your parents are coming home early today, remember?"

Maria smacked herself on the head, she had completely forgotten about that. Even after all this time, her parents were still busy at work nearly everyday, so she still tried to spend as much time as she could with them. Only problem was that she tended to forget about those days when she was "playing" with Zero, although most people would hardly consider such activity as playing.

"Come on, let's go!" Maria said happily as she tugged on Zero's arm.

"Sir! There is an unidentified space anomaly approaching the base!" The Federation officer reported. "It's probably a ship of some sort!"

"Does it match anything in our database?" The commander-in-chief of Station #17 asked, right before a shock that shook the entire headquarters.

"The ships identified as Aldian Tiamat-class Battleships! We're under attack!" The officer confirmed.

"How many of them are there!"

"There's no end to them!" Another officer replied.

"Monitor's online!" The huge holographic screen was filled with images of large spaceships, along with several smaller ones that were closing in on the base.

"Landers detected! They're trying to enter the base!"

"Scramble all ships and call for reinforcements, NOW!" The commander couldn't believe it. Sure, they've been attacked several times by the Aldians because of their location near the border, but never on this kind of scale. "I want all civilians evacuated from here, just in case!"

Maria was in deep thought as she walked besides Zero. Lately, she's been getting this weird, queasy feeling every time she was near him, except for during practices. It was getting harder for her to look at him in the eyes properly as well, and it was getting increasingly uncomfortable when he was near her.

'What's with me these days?' she thought to herself. Maybe she was starting think of him as more than just a brother? Nonsense! He was her brother for crying out loud! Well, then again, its not like he is her real blood-related family or anything, but still…

She was interrupted from her mental torture when Zero's voice brought her back to reality.

"Earth to Maria? We're here."

Slightly embarrassed, Maria was about to open the door when a strong quake knocked her off her feet. Zero managed to grab her before she fell. The door swung open and Maria's parents came pelting out of the house.

"You're back! Oh I'm so glad that you came back just in time!" Jessie sounded like she was going to go mad.

"Mom? What's happening?" Maria asked in a fearful voice.

"We're under attack by the Aldians again, only this time they mean serious business. Come on, we have to get you to the evacuation center!" Richard quickly led the group towards the Station's evacuation center, which held a transporter to a rescue frigate.

Just then, an announcement came from the military communicator Richard was carrying.

"Attention all personnel! It has been confirmed that the enemy landers have managed to break through our defenses. Keep a lookout for enemy soldiers, protect the civilians at all costs!"

"Damn! As if we don't have enough on our hands already!" Richard cursed as he urged the rest to quicken their pace.

As they neared their destination, gunfire sounded as a squad of Aldian troops appeared and began attacking both soldiers and civilians. Panic erupted as the civilians began pushing and shoving, trying to get to the transporter. Richard joined a group of Federation soldiers trying to push back the invaders. Maria began to tremble at the sight of a _real_ battle. This was nothing like the simulations she's been through. She then realized that something was amiss. She turned to her mother.

"Where's Zero?"

As if on cue, Zero dropped straight down from the building that was right next to the Aldians. Both gunblades drawn, he slashed apart several Aldians who were unfortunate enough to be within the sword's range. Without pause, he immediately followed up with a barrage of the phase-gun, which was now set to kill, eliminating those who were remaining. Combined with the cover fire from Richard and the rest, Zero continued to cut open a path for the refugees towards the transporter.

All was going well until one of the buildings collapsed as an Aldian landing pod crashed right into it. The force of the impact knocked down anyone nearby. From the remains of the crash emerged an insect-like mechanical soldier three times the size of a normal human being. It was armed with automatic disrupter rifle on 2 of its 4 arms and razor sharp blades on the other 2, a disrupter cannon mounted on its stomach, moved on 4 spindly legs, and its 3 eyes were constantly searching for its next target to obliterate. Soon, there were more of these mechanical terrors, dubbed the "Mantis", crashing down onto the Station. Without proper equipment to handle such a foe, the Federation soldiers began to fall one by one (or by 3's and 4's if they got hit by the cannons). Zero and Richard barely managed to break through the blockade and reach the evacuation shelter.

Maria and Jessie were badly shaken up by the carnage they had just experienced. In such a short time, the place they called home had been reduced to a flaming graveyard.

"Alright, you three, get moving to the transporter now," Richard instructed as he straightened up.

"But, what about you daddy?" Maria's cool exterior broke down at last and her childish side emerged due to the stress.

Richard avoided the eyes of his wife and daughter as he replied, "I'm a Federation officer, I must do what I can here." Maria tried to protest but was silenced by Jessie's grip on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll follow you as soon as I'm done here." Richard said comfortingly before turning to Zero. "I'm counting on you to get them out of here safely."

"Understood."

And with that, Richard headed back towards the fray. Zero immediately urged the other two to follow him. At last, it appeared that today was full of bad luck, as one Mantis came barging through the corridor wall. Zero pushed the two Traydors to the side and rushed the robot. Using his Klausian-like reflexes, he evaded the automatic rifle fire and managed to slide underneath the hulking mech. Quickly, he sprang up and drove one of his blades into the back of the cannon mounted on the Mantis. He followed up by administering several blasts from the Falcon, causing the Mantis to buckle. Zero took advantage of this momentary pause and pulled out the Falcon, then sliced off both of the arms carrying the rifles. Having stripped the Mantis of its long-range capabilities, he signaled Jessie and Maria to make a run for it, just as the Mantis swung at him with one of its scythed blades, which was what gave it the nickname of Mantis.

While Zero was locked in the "sword fight" with the mechanical bug, Jessie led Maria around the battle, and the two were currently located behind Zero. Once he noticed that the two were safely behind him, Zero swiftly dropped to the ground and swung the Hawk at one of the Mantis's legs. If there was one fault in the Mantis, it was the fact that they were not very effective at handling opponents who were positioned so low due to their considerable size. Without one of its legs, the Mantis lost its balance and crashed to the floor. Just to be safe, Zero stabbed its "head" and dealt several gunshots before he grabbed Jessie and Maria and began to run. If one of the Mantises have managed to get in so far, it meant that there might be more lurking around here. He had to get these two off the base as quick as he can.

"Hurry, we're almost there!" Zero said as he rounded the last corner… only to come face to face with another Mantis. At such close range, and with two non-combatants next to him, Zero wouldn't be able fare so well against it. Left with no other option, Zero decided to take the risk and ran as fast as he could. While he did manage to slide underneath it again with Jessie and Maria, he wasn't able to avoid the scythe due to being weighed down by them. Wincing in pain as the blades left a deep gash across his back, Zero swiped at the Mantis's feet as hard as he could, which caused the Mantis to bounce around a bit as it tried to regain its balance.

Not being able to afford time for another drawn-out battle, the redhead once again grabbed his companions and ran off at full speed, and finally reached the transporter chamber.

"Quick, there's no time to lose! Get in th-" He was cut off as he was pelted with automatic fire from yet another Mantis, which had appeared from the different end of the hallway from where they come from. That explained why there wasn't a Federation soldier waiting to assist any refugees remaining on the base. If there was one thing the Federation Military prided themselves in, it was their chivalry. The rifle carried by the Mantis used very small and thin energy pellets, which made them somewhat similar to the bullets used by the guns in the old days. Blood spurted from Zero's mouth as he lurched sideways to avoid the gunshot.

"Gah! Blast, I've let my guard down…" Zero grunted as he tried to get up.

"Zero…_(Zero: IRIS! … oh, wait, wrong story. -shot due to stupidity-)_" Maria was on the verge of breaking down.

"GO! I'll hold them off until you two get out of here!" Maria was startled at the sudden outburst, he had never raised his voice before. He added with a strained smile, "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

With that, he shoved Maria onto the transporter, followed by Jessie, just as the two Mantises came crashing through the door. Zero turned and began firing wildly, his coordination being off due to the injuries he received. He had to hold them off until Jessie and Maria were transported to the escape ship. The transporter activated and engulfed mother and daughter in a bright white and blue light. Maria saw Zero cutting one of the Mantis in half, then being thrown down to the floor by the other Mantis's bladed arm. At that moment, a bright beam of light struck down the remaining Mantis, and caused a huge explosion in the room. One of the Aldian Battleships had managed to punch through the base's shield, and a stray cannon fire had hit the transporter chamber. The last thing Maria saw as she was transported out was Zero being engulfed by the flames.

"NOOO-

"-OOO!" Maria jerked awake.

Maria looked around wildly. She was in her room aboard a spaceship. So, it was a just a nightmare. Yet it had brought back some painful memories. She took awhile to calm her breathing, then glanced across the room. There was something mounted neatly on the wall. Maria got up and went to examine it. It was none other than Falcon, one of Zero's trusty gunblades. It had somehow landed in the transporter along with her and Jessie, who had also perished that day. It was probably blown into the transporter due to the explosion. She took it down and held it in her hands. It was still the heavy lump of metal it had been long ago. 7 years ago, as a matter of fact. Maria Traydor was now a 19-year-old young lady.

She turned the weapon around. The charcoal black handgrip was the same as ever, as was the gleaming blade. The trigger was still working fine, and the gun's battery was perfectly functional. Everyone on board the ship had to marvel at the seamless design of the thing. The word "Falcon" was faintly embedded on one side. Maria returned it to its place on the wall before heading out of her room. Once she took her seat on the command chair of the bridge, she began to fiddle with the golden chain around her neck, which became something of a habit. A young man called Lieber came up and greeted her, then seemed to be trying to say something, although the only thing that came out of him was a long string of incoherent blabber. Soon after, he gave up and excused himself. Maria had to suppress a giggle. Lieber's antics had always amused her quite a bit, even though it was a bit puzzling.

At last, she stopped fiddling with the chain and tugged on it. Out came the gold locket with the zero mark, the same one she had picked up on the day she met him. When she tried to return it, he told her to keep it, as a present from him. It now contained a picture of the two, back in the peaceful days. Ever since she got it, she has never been without it. Clutching it tightly in her hand, Maria had to control her teary eyes.

Thankfully, she was spared from dwelling on the bitter memories when one of her crewmembers, Marietta, called out to her.

"Captain, we've just received a faint signal from Mirage. It looks like she is somewhere on a planet called Elicoor II."

"Is the target with them?" the young captain asked.

"I can't be sure, the signal is so weak that marking the location is about the best we can do. But, since her last report said that Cliff got him, its safe to assume he's still with them." Marietta completed her analysis.

"Good, then chart a course towards Elicoor II. Judging from Cliff's reports about Vendeeni activities, we had better hurry."

"Roger"

Maria took one last look at the locket before tucking it back into her shirt. Its time to get to business on hand.

The Diplo entered gravitic warp-space. Its destination, Elicoor II, and target: Fayt Leingod.

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_Arcaile63: Weeee! One chappy down!_

_Seifer: You! How dare you take my gunblade and name it after a bloody bird! I'll kill the both of you! -goes after Arcaile63 and Zero-_

_Squall: Agreed. -mimics Seifer-  
_

_Zero: I didn't do anything! I just took what he gave me!_

_Seifer & Squall: BUT YOU STILL TOOK IT!_

_Arcaile63 & Zero: … we're screwed. -runs away from the two mad scarfaces-_

_Seifer & Squall: How dare you insult our __**beautiful** scars!_


	3. Fateful Encounter

_Maxmagnus20019 – Yeah, I agree with you. I was planning on making Zero a "watered-down" version of Shuyin. He'll be good, as in slightly superior to Nel in combat, but slightly inferior compared to Albel, and his reflexes are not as great as Cliff and Mirage. Thanks for the comment._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Star Ocean._

**Chapter 2: Fateful Encounter**

"Did you see that Tynave?" a purple haired young woman asked the woman next to her.

"Yeah Farleen, just what is that thing?" The woman named Tynave wondered.

"Whatever it was, it definitely fell from the sky. But how could such a huge metal object possibly soar through the sky?" A red haired woman commented as she and the other two watched the shocking scene out the window of a house.

There, in the city of Airyglyph, a military superpower on the planet Elicoor II, lay indeed a huge metal object. It had completely leveled the building that had been unfortunate enough to stand in its way. A crowd was already gathering, everyone completely baffled at what had just happened.

"Lady Nel, what do you suspect that is?" Tynave asked the red haired woman.

"Beats me. Wait a minute, are those _people_ coming out of that thing!" Nel stared in wonder as two men -one tall, muscular blonde man and a younger looking blue haired one- came walking out of the mystery object.

"Uh… maybe that thing is some sort of transportation vehicle?" Farleen said uncertainly.

"Hmm… could be, but who could've built such a thing…"

"Perhaps it was one of the countries in Greeton? They build all sorts of strange things after all." Tynave suggested.

"At any rate, maybe I should go talk with those two people, if they possess technology to make flying vehicles, if that's what that thing is, then they might prove extremely valuable to us. Besides," Nel said as the three women witnessed the two strangers being dragged away by Glyphian soldiers, "we can't afford to let Airyglyph obtain such technology to use against the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria, can we?"

Down below in the dungeons of castle Airyglyph, sounds of whiplashes echoed throughout the hall, accompanied by some creepy, almost abnormal, laughs of glee. As the door of the "interrogation chamber" opened, a young man with blue hair, the same one that had appeared from the fallen object that was still smoldering in the middle of the city outside, was dragged out by a soldier clad in steel armor. By the looks of him, it appeared that he had been on the receiving end of the whip and laughs. He was then promptly thrown into one of the many dark, dank cells, where his blonde companion awaited him. He too, appeared to have been subject to the harsh lashes of the whip.

"Hey Fayt, you alright?" The blonde man inquired the younger male, who struggled to get up.

"Do I _look_ alright to you Cliff?" Fayt gasped out painfully, then noticed that Cliff also sported similar wounds, "looks they were rough on you too."

Cliff merely shrugged and said "Meh, I'm more used to this sort of stuff than you are. But hey, you held out pretty good."

Fayt sighed as he got up into a more comfortable position and sat next to Cliff. The two of them, along with another person, were on their way to meet Cliff's boss, who wished to meet with Fayt, when they were ambushed by the Vendeeni. In fact, the Vendeeni had attacked Hyda IV, the resort planet Fayt had been vacationing at with his parents and childhood friend Sophia. This had forced Fayt to be separated from everyone, and then make an emergency landing on the planet of Vanguard III while riding in an escape pod. This was where he was eventually picked up by Cliff, a Klausian working for the anti-Federation organization called Quark. It was Cliff and Mirage's, a Klausian woman and partner to Cliff, mission to bring Fayt to meet their leader, but the ambush left their ship's engine damaged severely, forcing the trio to crash land on Elicoor II. And here they are.

"I wonder if Mirage got out okay?" Fayt muttered worriedly. Mirage had been told by Cliff to wait until dark and slip out of the ship, then find a way to contact the rest of Quark.

"Hey, don't you worry about her, remember she's a Klausian, she can take care of herself," Cliff grunted as he struggled against the restraints which tied his hands together behind his back, "damn! These restraints are pretty solid, I can't break em!"

"Umm… I think that's why they're called 'restraints'".

"Very funny," the Klausian grumbled as he gave up the futile effort.

"Man, how am I supposed to rescue my dad when I'm locked up down here!" Fayt growled in frustation. Cliff had told him back on Vanguard that Quark had discovered the whereabouts of his father, the esteemed symbological genetics researcher Professor Leingod. He had apparently been captured by the Vendeeni during the raid on Hyda IV.

"Don't worry, I promised you that we'd help bail your father out. Besides, someone will get us out of here."

"How? You told Mirage not to bother coming after us."

"They're already here."

As if on cue, the soldier guarding their cell suddenly tumbled onto the floor, revealing the red haired woman who had attacked him. Before Fayt could figure out what just happened, the woman promptly gave them two choices: agree to her terms and come with her, or refuse and die here. Not much of a choice. The woman demanded that they lend their technology to her country, the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria, which was at war with Airyglyph. After a short debate between them, Cliff agreed to help her out. As for their identities, they could hardly tell her that they were aliens from outer space, considering how Elicoor was an Underdeveloped Planet. So, they led her to believe that they were engineers from the technological superpower of Greeton. The woman then used a weird power to break the lock on the cell door, then proceeded to break the two prisoners from their restraints.

"Whew! Thanks for the help." Cliff said as he massaged his wrists.

"I expect you to uphold your part of the bargain." The woman said sternly, then added, "I'm Nel Zelpher, an agent of the Sacred Kingdom of Aquaria."

"My name is Fayt Leingod."

"Cliff Fittir."

With introductions out of the way, the trio turned to leave, when they were startled by a sudden high-pitched "echo!". While Fayt and Cliff looked at each other, completely puzzled, while Nel growled in frustration.

"Dear Apris…" She sighed as the clanking footsteps of soldiers could be heard.

Before the soldiers showed up, a young girl with shoulder length, straight black hair, light red eyes, and dressed in similar attire as Nel, albeit with a longer lower garment (A/N: more like Clair), came rounding the corner.

"AH! Lady Nel! Soldiers!" She squealed as she came dashing towards the group.

"I kind of noticed that, Ira, and tell me just _how_ did they realized we were here?"

"eh… a hunch?"

"Wow Cliff, there's someone in common with you," Fayt said bemusedly.

"Shut it, kid."

"AAAAH! You won't be getting away from me, my little kittens! I still have much more FUN stuff in mind for you!" The masked inquisitor, the one who had whipped the two former prisoners harshly, came blundering into view, flanked by a couple of guards.

"Geez, remind me why I hate this guy so much." Cliff muttered as he cracked his knuckles.

"He's fat?" Ira said bluntly, receiving blank stares from the rest, "what?"

"Never mind, here they come!" Nel exclaimed as she drew her daggers.

Fayt, having received his sword and the rest of his gears, along with a new set of armor little earlier, focused on parrying the lance strokes of one of the guards, and Nel moved around swiftly, frustrating the slower guard (all that armor will kill your speed, honestly). In the meanwhile, Cliff was literally beating the crap out of the inquisitor, whose creepy laugh was now replaced by a sissy squeal of pain. All too soon, the scuffle was over, with Fayt and Nel having dispatched their adversaries, while Cliff was still kicking the unconscious inquisitor, muttering stuff like "creepy dude" and "lose some weight".

"Well, that was rather easy, they're not as tough as they act." Fayt said as he sheathed his sword.

"By the way, how come you didn't do anything?" Cliff glared accusingly at the girl named Ira.

"You want _me _to touch that… sack of _grease_? Besides, I prefer being a spy over a fighter!"

"A spy who just gave away our position…" Nel muttered.

"Heheh, sorry Lady Nel, couldn't help myself," Ira scratched the side of her head.

Following a long exasperated sigh from Fayt, Cliff, and Nel, they began to head towards Nel's suggested exit: the aqueducts. The aqueducts were a huge, sprawling series of underground caverns beneath castle Airyglyph that has stood for a long time. After cutting their way through some monsters that blocked their way. Well, scurry behind the fighters, in Ira's case.

"Uh, Nel? Not to be rude or anything, but why did _she_ come along? I mean, she's kinda, you know, not cut out for this, isn't she?" Cliff whispered to the Aquarian spy.

"Well, she may seem to be incompetent, but she's actually one of our top spies. Also, there is her… gift, I suppose," Nel shrugged.

"Gift?"

"Well, you see, she can-"

"Err… Lady Nel, I think we have trouble."

The group had entered a large chamber that led to the exit. Only the exit was blocked by a gigantic Larva Crab, which was advancing on them, eager for its next meal.

"Great, after all that, now we have a blasted crab to deal with." Fayt sounded quite aggravated.

In order to confuse it, the three split up, with Nel using her runology (a special power utilized by engraving special runes on the flesh of the user) to annoy it, and the men hitting it from the back whenever they got the chance. Growing increasingly vexed by the hit-and-run tactics, the crab eventually started going berserk. It swung its powerful crab legs (?) wildly, which actually managed to strike Cliff, who let down his guard due to overconfidence, and sent him flying a few feet away. Startled, Fayt quickly backed away from the frenzied beast. Nel tried to gain its attention away from Fayt, but the crab just grew even more aggravated.

At last, it began a blind charge, right at the idle Ira, who was just standing where she had been all along, doing nothing.

"Watch out!" Fayt shouted.

All of the sudden, the crab fell to the ground, and seemed to have trouble moving. In fact, it seemed _unable_ to move. Then Fayt noticed that the monster's legs were trapped in a pile of hardened mud.

'Where'd _that_ come from?' Fayt wondered, then quickly realizing his chance charged right in, and drove his sword into the beast's thick scale (?) as hard as he could, while Nel leapt up and stabbed the weak point at the crab's neck. The monster flailed around for a bit, before a chunk of rock from the ceiling fell on top of its head. Taking advantage of its stunned state, the three fighters pummeled the crab relentlessly until it finally crumbled before them.

"Whew, that was something… Who would've expected such a thing to be living down here?" Cliff panted tiredly, then pointed accusingly at Ira yet again, "and she _still_ didn't do anything!"

"How rude!" Ira pouted.

"Uh… Actually Cliff, I think she _did_ do something." Fayt said uncertainly.

"Like what?"

"Remember how the beast's legs got trapped? And that rock that fell on top of it?" Nel pointed out.

"Huh? I thought that was your doing." Cliff looked puzzled.

"No, that would be Ira. She has a strange ability to control certain objects, primarily stones and minerals, I believe."

"It's tiring though, and I have my limits too." Ira indeed sounded worn out.

"Is this more of that runology thing?" Fayt asked Nel.

"No, this is her own personal ability. Frankly, I have no idea how she possesses such skill."

"I don't know either." Ira added.

"Hey, that's pretty neat."

"You bet!"

With the hectic battle, and an interesting discovery of their new "comrades", Fayt and Cliff trudged out of the cave… and into the freezer. Airyglyph, located on a high, mountainous region, was cold in normal times. This was winter, and the stinging bite of the frigid wind was quite unbearable. As inconspicuously as they could manage, the group hurried out of the city gate. Unfortunately, Ira tripped right in front of the gate, and the noise caught the attention of the guards on top of the gate. The four of them quickly dashed out of the city, with Nel scolding Ira all the way. They were greeted by Nel's two other subordinates, Farleen and Tynave, who were waiting with a wagon that would carry them away from the city.

During the ride, Nel was quite annoyed with Fayt, who absolutely refused to help building a weapon. Most of the ride was taken up with them and Cliff arguing, while Ira was snoozing peacefully, having made a makeshift ear plugs using her powers, which was basically the ability to manipulate minerals and elements such as stone, iron, and such. However, this didn't last long, as Airyglyph's famed Dragon Brigade was soon closing in on them. In order to allow the others to escape, Farleen and Tynave drove off with the wagon as decoys, while the other four leapt out and hid out of sight. Once the danger was past, Nel informed the rest that they would be heading for Kirlsa, then would head to Aquarian territory through the Kirlsa Mines. Ira seemed delighted for some reason.

"What is she so excited about?" Fayt looked to Nel for explanations.

"I think she's originally from Kirlsa. She came to the capital city of Aquios about 3 years ago, and eventually joined as a spy. Needless to say, her stealth and powers made her quite outstanding."

"Power I understand, but stealth?" Cliff sounded skeptic.

"Well, her clumsiness _is_ a bit of a problem…" Nel sighed, and was about to continue when Fayt started acting weird.

He clutched his head as if suffering from severe headache, and dropped to the ground. Cliff quickly checked up on him. This only annoyed Fayt, who merely stated that he was no child who needed to be pampered. Nel was deeply troubled by this. It would be best for them to head through the mines as quick as possible, but with Fayt in this condition, it was not possible. Left with no other options, the group decided to stay a night in Kirlsa's inn. The moment they arrived, Nel left to check up on one of her agents in Kirlsa, while Ira ran off to who knows where. Probably to visit some of her old haunts or something.

The next day, refreshed by the night of rest, the four companions proceeded to the Kirlsa Mines, which was more or less abandoned by now, due to over mining. They had to hack their way pass numerous, abnormally large, deformed spiders, which Ira seemed interested in for some reason, muttering something along the line of "my friend would like one of these…" Then they ran into a fiend that seemed to be composed of stones and mud or something. This battle turned out to be rather easy, largely thanks to Ira and her manipulative abilities. She somehow managed to disassemble the thing into tiny little pieces, after which everyone started stepping and grinding the now miniature monsters into dust. Of course, this left the poor girl completely fatigued, and she had to be carried by a grumbling Cliff for a good deal of the journey through the Becquerel Mountain Path.

Finally, after this long, arduous trek through an abandoned mine and a mountain trail, the small group made it into the Aquarian town of Arias. They were promptly led to a large mansion in the center of the town by a runologist. Here, they were greeted by a young woman, who seemed to be in charge of operations in Arias.

"Oh, you made it back!" she said as she approached the newcomers, "Umm… why is Ira being carried around?"

The moment the words left her lips, Ira leapt off and hugged the woman like a little child who just met her older sister. Cliff, having been unprepared for this, fell face first onto the floor from the sudden lack of weight on his back, plus the force exerted from Ira jumping off of it.

"Are these the ones?" the woman asked after Ira calmed down a bit.

"Yes, this is Fayt, and the blonde one is Cliff." Nel introduced the two 'engineers' to her.

"I'm commander Clair Lasbard of the Aquaria Runological Unit. I'm honored to meet you." Clair greeted the two men.

Once the formalities were out of the way, the two 'engineers' were led to the spare room. Too tired for much activity, Fayt literally collapsed onto his bed. Unbeknownst to him, a certain Aquarian spy entered the room in the middle of the night, bowed to the two men, then left silently without a word. Unbeknownst to _her_, a certain blonde Klausian wasn't quite asleep yet.

Morning dawned, and once the negotiation began, Clair basically made similar requests as Nel had (more like demanded, in the case of the latter), except that the young commander was more willing to compromise. In fact, as long as Fayt and Cliff did not end up giving their technology to Airyglyph, it was more or less okay with them. After this negotiations of sorts, in which Fayt was given time to think over the issue of building a weapon before he arrived in Aquios, the blue haired Earthling inquired about Nel's whereabouts. She had been nowhere in sight all this time so far, neither was Ira. After a tense, uneasy moment, Clair began to speak, but was interrupted by Cliff.

"She went to rescue Farleen and Tynave, didn't she?"

"How did you?" Clair asked, startled.

"She came into our room last night. I'm not sure what she wanted, but she just kind of bowed and left."

"Huh? When was that?" Fayt was surprised at this bit.

"While you were snoozing like a babe."

"…yes, she did go to get them. Her chances are close to zero, but she just can't abandon those under her…"

"One of those types who just can't let go, eh?" Cliff mused.

"I'm going after her!" Fayt yelled indignantly. Clair began to protest, considering how they were so close to getting to Aquios, and hence their freedom. But Fayt wouldn't hear of it. He was tired of people all around him throwing away their lives mindlessly. When both him and Cliff was set on assisting Nel, Clair finally gave up and provided them with the location of the place. The two captive spies were being held in the Kirlsa Training Facility, the headquarters of the Black Brigade heavy cavalry of Airyglyph.

"It would've been better if Ira could go with you, since she is more familiar with this region than most, but…" Clair trailed off.

"Speaking of Ira, where is she at?"

"I sent her off on an errand early this morning… Maybe I shouldn't have…"

"We'll manage somehow." Fayt said firmly.

With that, the Fayt and Cliff began their trek towards the Kirlsa Training Facility.

A little while after the two 'engineers' had left, Clair was snapped out of her mindless pacing back and forth in the conference room by the sound of the door opening.

"Oh, you're back! Did you find him?"

"Yep, right here!"

"…"

_Yeesh… I seem to always make two OCs with certain characteristics…A serious type and a hyper type… Oh wellz. Anyway, that's another chappy down! Any reviews would be appreciated (though flaming I could live without). I ask for your continued support! Thank You!_


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